How hard is it to hit a golf ball long and straight with consistency? So hard it ranked #4 on USA TODAY's "10 Hardest Things To Do In Sports" list. Chat with today's guest, Rick Martino, about the difficulty of golf.

Ranked as one of the nation's top teachers by Golf Magazine and Golf Digest, Rick Martino has been Director of Instruction for the PGA of America for the past five years. His students include PGA veteran Fred Funk and LPGA players Laurie Rinker-Graham and Tish Certo

Buffalo, NY:
Rick,
I currently have a flatter type swing and I want to make it more upright to get my club on plain. First, can you suggest a good drill to become more upright? Second, Do you think becoming more upright is away to improve my game or should I concentrate on getting my club parallel at the delivery position regardless the path my club takes.

Rick Martino:
The golf swing should be neither flat nor upright, but should match the plane that the shaft starts on.

If a club is more upright, that doesn't create a better swing. We're trying to return the shaft to the original shaft line plane at impact. You don't want to go above or below the plane line.Dallas, TX:
I think today's golf ball has a huge influnce on distance and possibly direction. With that in mind, I believe not every golf ball is right for every golfer. How and where could I find out what is the right golf ball for me to hit?

Rick Martino:
The only true way to determine the ideal golf ball for the launch conditions that match your golf swing is to use a launch monitor, which tests the ball speed, the launch angle and the spin rate. Different balls will have different spin rate, which cause them to launch differently. To truly determine the ball that fits your launch conditions correctly, you would need to test golf balls with a launch monitor.hamburg, mi:
I swing with driver at about 96mph, what elements can I incorporate to increase club head speed.

Rick Martino:
The speed of the club is only one factor in the distance your shot goes. We also need to check for centerdness of contact and to be sure that your launch conditions are such that the ball is launched at the ideal angle for a driver normally between 10-12 degrees, and that your spin rate matches the launch conditions that you want.Comment from Rick Martino:
At the PGA learning center we have a launch monitor, by the way.Augusta, GA:
I have great accuracy with my irons, but no matter how I adjust my stance, my driver tee shots wind up with a serious slice. Any quick fixes?

Rick Martino:
The condition you're describing is that your iron are hit down on and have a lot of backspin, and that helps straighten out your shot. When you hit down that much on a driver and leave the club face open, the ball will always slice.Comment from Rick Martino:
You need to have a professional look at your swing to help you address the angle of attack and the clubface position at impact.Buffalo, New York:
For a right handed golfer, does the angle formed at the back of the right wrist flatten past impact? What happens to the flat left wrist after impact?

Rick Martino:
The ideal situation for wrists is the lead wrist, or left for a right-handed golfer, is flat through impact and the right wrist is bent. As centrifugal force pulls the club through the shot, the right wrist flattens and the left wrist needs to hinge back upwards.largo, fla.:
So is it true that if start golf later in life it's near impossible to develop a good swing? What's the best way to improve someone's golf game, private or group lessons? thanks

Rick Martino:
I absolutely think your first statement is false. We have Larry Nelson, who started golf in his early 20s, and Calvin Pete who started golf in his late 20s. I think that if you don't play golf as a youngster, you can never create as much feel in the game as someone who has played all their life. But you still can play very well.murrysville, pennsylvania:
What is the single best drill you have ever taught to simulate the correct feel of a good golf swing?

Rick Martino:
There's no one drill that creates the feel of a good golf swing, but I do believe that you can get your address posture correct by working with a mirror, and then work your golf swing in slow motion over and over until it feels the way you want it to. Then add speed to further swings.Tallahassee, Florida:
compare the body's motion for the golf swing with the motion for the baseball swing and the backhand racquetball swing

Rick Martino:
I would rather compare the motion of a golf swing to skipping a stone or making a sidearm underhand throw, because the trail side of the body must pivot through impact and continue up the direction of the shaft plane.Las Cruces, NM:
Do you have any idea how well the mechanical swing machines they use for testing are able to hit balls consistently long and straight?

Rick Martino:
The dispersion pattern of a swing machine is dependent on the conditions of the golf club and the golf ball. The swing machine can be set to replicate a certain miles per hour, and a certain impact condition of the clubface and the ball. Then the dispersion pattern of the shots can be tested to show how accurate the ball was struck.Lexington KY:
So which is it? Hitting a golf ball accurately or the perfect golf swing? Arnold Palmer was accurate, but he had a horrible swing.

Rick Martino:
In my estimation the perfect golf swing is one that returns the golf club to impact conditions repetitively. If the golf swing returns the golf club to impact conditions repetitively, it's the perfect swing.Boston, Massachusetts:
In your opinion, who has the best swing on the PGA Tour? The most fluent, effortless, and efficient swing overall?

Rick Martino:
It would depend on what kind of shot you want hit. If you want the most accurate tee shot, you'd look to Fred Funk. If you want the longest tee shot, you'd look to John Daley. It would depend. Who aesthetically or mechanically has the best swing depends on many factors, but examples to copy should depend on the body type of the professional and the player trying to copy it.Cincinnati, Ohio:
What is the hardest shot in golf and why?

Rick Martino:
The next one! We never know what the conditions are going to be. Every shot is unique and has ultimate pressure, since we can only hit one at a time. No one can save us. But a few of the conditions that make golf difficult are: We are facing at a 90 degree angle to the target line, and we're looking at the ball, not where we want it to land. The ball is very small in terms of the correct impact zone, and hte golf club is so light to create speed, that there's very little feel through the forward swing. With all that said, any child can hit a golf ball. The game is not difficult in that everyone can play; it's only difficult at the highest level where extreme distance and accuracy are required.Baton Rouge, Louisiana:
I bet that on Lance Armstrongs day off he occasionaly hits a golf ball long and straight. Do you think tiger woods could cycle throught the Alpes on his day off.

Rick Martino:
Golf looks simple, but if you ask many great athletes like Michael Jordan and Charles Barley who have tried the game, they'll tell you it's certainly not simple. Because golf is a skill, just improving your physical fitness will not lower your score, unlike many other sports. But the level of fitness required to hit a golf ball long and straight is a very high level of skill. The fact that golf takes four hours to play and each shot is totally unique requires a mental stregth that's not required in other sports, where you just get in the zone and tell your body to go. Also, golf is truly a mental control sport because it's non-reactionary. Nothing moves until you move it. Starting from a static position to create this much fluid motion requires a great deal of athletic ability.